Rotary boring-drill.



H. R. HUGHES. ROTARY some DRILL. APPLICATION FILED MAR. so. 1918.

Patented Sept, 16, 1919.

E] mined doc HOWARD R.HUGHES a2, H15 MOWW mu H. R. HUGHES. ROTARY BORINGDRILL. APPLICATIQN FILED MAR-30.19I8.

PatentedSept. 16, 1919.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

HOWARD R. Husnm; finmwcov $1 Hm aflom wtg H. R HUGHES.

ROTARY some DRILL.

Patented Sept. 16, 1919.

4 SHEETS SHEET 3- ,m a w m m H. R. HUGHES.

ROTARY BORING DRILL.

APPLICATION FILED MAR-30.1918.

a STATES rATE-nr orinca.

nowaan n. stones, or nonsron', Texas.

ROTARY BORING-DRILL.

aerator.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 16, 1919...

Application filed March 30, 1918. Serial Ito. ceases.

ed a certain new and useful Improvement in Rotary Boring-Drills, ofwhich the following is a full, clear, and "exact description, such aswill enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make anduse the same- This invention relates to drills of the'type used indrilling wells in'earthor rock, and more particularly to rotary drillsfor attachmentto the end of a rotary drill stem for uie in drilling oilor water wells; and the li e.

Une object of my invention is to provide a drill of the rotary typewherein the head of the bit is divided 'longitudinally along the medianline thereof, and in whichthe shafts upon which the rotatable cuttersare mounted are integral with the two latera sections of the headitself.

lib

Another object is to provide, in a bit of the kind described, a centralweb adapted to fit'between the two longitudinal side pieces andinterlock with the same, and to furnish a support for the interior endof the shafts water upon the cutters and on the material being drilled,in an especially eflicient manner.

' Another object is to construct a bit of extreme simplicity and inwhich each cutter will be closely housed around its upper portion, toprevent accumulation of material on said cutters.

Other objects of my invention will more clearly appear in'thespecification which follows and will be pointed out with moreparticularity in the claims-appended hereto.

Referring" to the drawing in'which like characters of reference refer'tolike parts throughout the diflerent' views:

Figure 1 is a side view of my improvement partly in section on the line1- -1 of s y Fig. 2a is a bottom .plan view partly in section on theline 22 of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 i'sel. top plan view thereof ;-and

Fig. l is an interior side view of one of the longitudinal sections ofthe head, showing one of the cutters in operating position.

Fig. 5 is -a side View of the "IT-web removed.

Figs. 6 and 7 are views similar to Fig. 1, showing modifications in theshape of the web constructed to accommodate cutters set at an angle.

Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 1, showing a modified form of T'web andcutter mount- Fig. 11 is an upper plan view of this em bodiment of myinvention.

Figs. 12. and 13 are views similar to Fig. 1 showing modified forms ofll-web.

Fig. 14: is a diagrammatical plan view of the cutters shown in Fig.12illustrating the manner in which the cutters contact with each otheron the line of their beveled hubs.

Referring with more articularity to Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive, of therawings, the head of my bit is composed of two longitudinal sidesections 6, making up the body of the head and interfitting to form athreaded upper shank 7, for attachment to the rotary drill stem, notshown. Between the two side members, 6, and extending approximatelyhalf-way from the lower to the. upper end of the bit, is a central'l-web 8, having the upper end 9- extended laterally to fit within agroove 10, in each of the longitudinal side members. in each side of theweb 8 adjacent the lower end of the same, and ofiset lower end thereof,at 1%, to accommodate a disk shaped cutter 14-, toothed as at for thecutting operation.

These cutters, as previously mentioned, are offset from each other insuch manner that one of them projects laterally from the head on oneside of the bit, while the other one projects from the opposite side ofthe lllld head, after the manner usual in this type of bit. Each ofthese cutters is furnished with a bushing 17, which is extended radiallyoutward on the outer side of the disk to form a combined bushing andwasher for the cutter. On the inner side of the disk is an ordinaryWasher 16 furnishing an antifriction contact on its inner face. Each ofthese parts of the bearing are made non-r0- tatable by means of a smalldowel pin 18, passing through the periphery of the washers andinterfitting with the adjacent part of the head. The inner web 7 is morefirmly attached in its registered position by means of dowel pins 19,which fit within the head of the Web, and'also in holes 20 in the sidemembers 6 of the head.

1 To lock the two side members 6 in cooperative relation with the innerweb 8, under ordinary circumstances, the threading of the shank 7 intothe drill stem is sufficient. I have, however, rovided a further lockingmeans for use w en convenient, consisting of two locking pins 21. Thesepins are seated on opposite edges of the T-web' 8 and extend in aposition parallel to the adjacent disks in such a manner as to fitwithin a groove on the upper part of the shafts 13, as shown clearly 1nFig. 1. Thus when the locking pins 21 are inserted into the head, theywill fit Within holes in the Web 8 and by passing through the groove inthe upper part of each of the shafts 13, a lateral movement of the shaftwill be prevented, in this way materially strengthening the lower partof the head.

The lower end of the web 8 is grooved in a direction parallel to thecutters to furnish a cutting or crushing surface 23 adapted todisintegrate any core left standing in the center of the holes,untouched by the cutters. Each outer side of this lower surface is alsobeveled oftas at 22to allow all ossible freedom for the washing away ofthe disintegrated material.

On the upper end of the threaded shank of the drill bit, I have provideda threaded nipple 25 for the attachment of a lubricating cylinder, notshown. Passing downwardly from the upper end of this nipple 25 are twoinclined oil ducts 26, connecting the lubricator with the vertical oilducts 27 by means of which the lubricating fluid is conducted to thebearing of the cutters 14, as shown.

In this bit, as is usual with rotary drills, provision is made forconducting the flushin water from the interior of the hollow drill stemdownward through the head of the bit so as to flush away the materialdisintegrated by the action of the drill.

In my improvement, I have formed the water ducts so that the water shallissue on a line diametrical to the disk shaped cutter, the housing ofthe cutter being also constructed so that the point where the water thewasher 16. The

issues into the cutter slot, will matel midway between the outer edgesof said ousing. This structure has certain advantages. By striking thecutter diametrically the watertends to better loosen any material whichmay be clinging thereto, andforce the same laterally from the housing12. The distance being equal, or approximately so, toward each side ofthe slot, the water will be projected forcibly both from the front andrear of the cutter.

A channel for the flushing water is formed in each of the twointerfitting side members 6 as shown particularly in Figs. 3 and 11.These channels conduct the water to the cutter in the manner described.

The channel in that portion of the head through which the web 8 extends,is formed by the cutting of a groove in the side of the web 8 and aregistering groove in the interior side of the cooperating part 6. Aswill be seen in dotted lines in Fig. 1, the groove be approxiin thepart6 ends at the upper side of the 1 slot 12 in whichthe disk is mounted,but the groove in the outer face of the web 8 extends in a directioninclined backwardly from this point along the face of the slot andissues in an outwardly directed groove at the base thereof, as shown at29 in Figs. 2 and 5. This outward inclination of the channel toward thebase of the head is partly for the purpose of directing the waterlaterally along the disk and also to avoid contact with the washer 16 ofthe disk. As the cut ters rotate in a clockwise direction, as seen inFigs. 4 and 8, the natural tendency would be for the cutter to carry asomewhat larger portion of the water in the direction of rotation of thecutter but by the backward incliv nation of thiswater duct on thesurface of the web this tendency is overcome to a great degree. Thistendency of the water to follow the direction of rotation of the cutteris also partly overcome by the backward inclination of the teeth on theperiphery of the cutter as indicated in Figs. 1 and 4.

In the assembling of my improved drill bit, one of the lateral members 6is first provided with the portion 17 "of the bushing fitting over thecutter shaft 13 and over this bushing is fitted the disk 14, the twoparts of the bushing being locked in place by means of dowel pins 18.The view shown in Fig. 4 will illustrate this much of the assem ly ofthe bit, with the exception of T-web 8 is then fitted over the end of ashaft 18, the dowel pin 19 fitting within the hole 20 of the side memher6. The disk on the opposite side is then arranged upon the shaft 13 inthe manner previously described, and the two parts of the head are thenfitted together in registered position, as shown in Fig. 1. The pins 21are then fitted in place and the drill is ready for attachment to thedrill stem.

In the rotation of the bit in the usual clockwise direction, the cuttingdisks 14 will serve to shear away the material from the side and bottomof the hole, and the action of the toothed periphery thereof will assistin disintegrating the cutting so that they may be flushed back upward tothe surface by means of the water issuing from the channels 28 of thehead. The cutting disks are housed somewhat in the head as previouslydescribed, but the slot to the rear of the cutter has been left open asshown at 24 to allow a free outward movement of the disintegratedmaterial, both to the front and rear of the cutter with approximatelyequal volume, the slot being kept open by the force of the flushingwater impinging upon the teeth of the cutting disk, and directedlaterally from the housing.

In Figs. 5 and 6, I have shown the cutters set at an angle to thelongitudinal axis of the head and the shape of the T-web is modified toaccommodate this arrangement. In Fig. 5 the cutters are arranged toincline inwardly toward the bottom and in Fig. 6 the cutters areinclined inwardly toward the top. These different arrangements .of thecutters are not thought to be new. In order to accommodate myimprovement to such incline-d positions of the cutters, however, I havehad to incline the integral cutter shafts from the horizontal. In Fig. 5the shafts 13' are inclined upwardly making it necessary to provide aninclined recess 11 in the lower part of the, T-we'b 9' to receive theshaft 13'. The T-web is also beveled on each side at 30, parallel to thecutter, thus forming one wall of the recess 12 of the cutter housing,the other wall being formed by the inner face of the head.

The upper and lower walls of the groove 10' are. also inclined inparallelism with the cutter shaft for purposes of assembly, the partsbeing compelled to move together parallel with the inclined shaft 13.

' In Fig. 6 the cutter bearing shafts 13" are inclined downwardly andthe walls of the slot 10" are inclined parallel to the shaft.

The T-web 9" is beveled outwardly toward the base to closely house thecuttersin the usual manner. The assembly of the bit, when thesemodifications are used, is practicallythe same as in that of mypreferred embodiment shown in Fig, 1. The

principal diflerence lies in fitting the two parts 6 of the head ontothe web as it is necessary to move the side parts with a motion parallelto the inclined cutter shafts.

In Figs. 8 to 13, inclusive, I have shown my divided head bit providedwith a special form of cutter which serves to nearly inclose the shaftand bushing on which it is mounted. In Figs. 8 to 11 these cutters 14*are erect and the shafts are horizontal..

The cutters are offset as in the-other forms but the inner hub of eachcutter is closed, enlarged and flattened to form a smooth surface forcontact with the other cutter. The cutter hubs contact for a part oftheir width, as shown at 82in Fig. 9, and any lateral movement of thecutters toward each other is thereby prevented. In. this arrangement,when the bit is assembled, no locking nuts for the cutters. arenecessary, and the entrance of sand or other material to the bearing islargely avoided. On the inner end of the recess 11 into which the shaftfits, is a small conical counterbore 33 acting as a cup for oilaccumulating about the bearing. No inner washer is necessary in thisform of cutter.

In order that the cutters shall be closely housed around their upperportions, thus to prevent accumulations of material around the cutters,the T-web 8* may befitted in the head between the cutters in the mannerdescribed in relation to the modifications set forth in Figs. 1 to 7.The web does not extend down to support the cutters in this form,however, but is shaped to fit the inner contour of the cutters and closeup the space as is clearly shown in Fig. 8. If desired the T-Web may beomitted altogether in this modification. The water channels in thismodification are directed from the upper end of each part diametricallytoward the axis of the cutters but are not open along the lower end ofthe bit in the T-web. The said web does not extend below the cutters. Asa result the water is projected nearly equally both from the front andrear of the cutter housing. The tendency of the water to follow thedirection of rotation of the cutter is partially, overcome here as wellas in the other forms by the inclination of the cutter teeth toward therear.

In Figs. 1'2 and 13 the cutters are inclined from the longitudinal axisof the head as in Figs. 5 and 6. The inner hubs of the cutter arebeveled as at 34 in each case at the point of contact of the offsetcutters to allow for this inclination thus allowing free rotation of thesame.

The web 8 in Fig. 12 is similar to the web in Fig. 8 but is widened tofit the larger space between the upper portions of the cutters. In theembodiment of my invention shown in Fig. 13 the web is extended belowthe cutter shafts as in Figs. 1 to 7. inclusive. This illustrates howthe web may be adapted with the. closed hub form of cutter to moreclosely house the cutters and to even support the inner hubs of thecutters. The lubrication and bearing means is the same in all themodifications and need not be further described.

The advantages of my improvement lie mainly in the ease of assembling ofthe parts of my drill head, and also in the strength of the same. Owingto the fact thatv I have a central removable web, it is 'possible tomake the shafts integral with the head and still to provide a centralsupport for the shafts whenit is considered necessary. By making theshafts integral withthe parts of the head, the disadvantages of" theseparate shaft and locking nuts are entirely avoided. Thus with myimproved structure, when assembled, there is no part which can be easilylost in the hole. Each part interfits head are thus practically avoided.In the embodiment shown in Figs. 8 to 13, inclusive, wherein the closedhub form of cutter is used the length of the head is somewhat reducedthus making it possible to bindthe parts firmly together when the headis screwed into the drill stem without the assistance of additionalfastenin bolts or screws. The T-web may be exten ed to close the lowerpart of the head between the cutters and also serve as. a support forthe hubs of the cutters or the web may simply close the housing betweenthe upper portions of the cutters as in slve.

I have shown my invention applied to a disk bit, but it will bepossible, of'

course, to apply it to other forms of bit without departing materiallyfrom the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I Iclaim as new and desire toprotect by Lotits length, a T-shaped ters Patent, is: I

lJA bit for well drilling, comprising a headdivided lon 'tudinally intotwo sections, each of saidsections being recessed on its inner surfacefor approximately half web in said recess and cutters supported betweensaid web and side sections.

' 2. In a bit for well drilling, a head lontwo side sections,

said sections bein recessed on the lower in- .ner faces thereo aT-shaped web in said recesses, and cutters mounted in said head.

3. A bit for well drilling, comprising a head divided longitudinallyinto two sectlons 7 each section being recessed on its inner ace for aportion of its length, a T- web in said r. a shaft on each side sectionsu orted in said web and cutters on said shafts. v d. A bit for welldrilling-"comprising a head divided longitudinall into two equalsections, the contacting inner faces of whlch Figs. 8 to 12, inch:-

as cpes are recessed to receive a T-web, an inwardly projecting cuttershaft integral with the lower end of each section, said shaft beingadapted to fit within a recess in the said T- web and be supportedthereby.

5. In a drill bit, a longitudinally divided head, a central T-shaped webfitting in the lower portion thereof, cutter shafts integral with thehead and adapted to be supported in said web.

6. In a drill bit, a longitudinally divided head, a central T-shaped webfitting in the lower portion thereof, cutter shafts integral with thehead and adapted to be supported in said web and locking pins engagingsaid web and shafts to maintain the parts in assembled position.

7. In a drill bit a longitudinally divided head, a central T-shaped webfitting removably in the lower portion thereof for the purposedescribed, and cutters supported by said web and said head.

8. In a drill bit, a head split longitudinally into two sections each ofwhich is recessed on the lower portion thereof and provided with anintegral cutter shaft, and a T-web fitting within said recess andserving to support said shafts.

9. A split head for well drills composed of two longitudinally dividedsections, cutters mounted rotatably thereon and a central T- shaped webextending from the cutters approximately half the length of the head,

and means to lock the said sections in assembled position.

10. A split head for well drills composed of two longitudinalsectionsand a central T- shaped web shorter than the two said sectionsand fitting within a recess in the lower part of said sections, andintegral cutter shafts on said sections.

11. In a drilldoit, a longitudinally divided head, offset rotary cutterson the lower end thereof, shafts for said cutters integral with saidhead, and an inner removable support for said cutters.

12. In a drill bit, a longitudinall divided head, rotary cutters pivotedat the ower end thereof, pivot shafts for said cutters integral with apart of said head, a central support for said shafts, means to connectsaid shafts to said support, bushings for said cutters and lockin meansfor said bushings.

13. A sp it head for well drills comprisin two longitudinal sidesections and a centre T-shaped web fitting within a recess in the lowerpart of said sections, said web bein beveled on'its opposite sides toform a we for inclined cutter slots and cutter shafts on said sections.

14. In a drill bit, a head, cutters mounted in ofiset relation in slotsin the lower part thereof, water channels in said head adapted toproject flushing water diametrically to said cutters, said channelsdelivering water to said slots midway between the outer margins thereof.

15. In a drill bit, a head longitudinally divided into two sections, acentral web between the said sections, cutters mounted in slots inthe-base of said head, water channels in said head formed by cooperatinggrooves in the sides of said sections and said web, the groove in saidsections terminating in said slots, the groove in said Web beingdirected backwardly from the to of said slots and terminating at thebase 0 the slots.

16. ][n a drill bit, a head, offset cutters "housed therein, the housingbeing higher on the forward than on the rearward side, water channels insaid head directing the water diametrically to said cutters, at a. pointmidway of said housing, and teeth on said cutters inclined backwardlyfrom the point of projection of the water upon the same.

17. In a drill bit, a head for the support of rotary drilling cutters,said head comprising two registering side sections each having a cuttershaft thereon and recessed on their meeting faces for approximatelyone-half their length, and a "IF-shaped supporting web in said recessdesigned to assist in the support of the cutters.

In testlmony whereof, I hereunto afiix my signature this the 25 day ofMarch, 1918.

a HOWARD R. HUGHES.

